Little Vicktim
August 29th, 2007Michael Vick pleaded guilty to all sorts of criminal charges on Friday. He apologized yesterday. I’ve been waiting for the right time to discuss his situation, and I will do it now. When the story broke, I wrote an entry entitled Dogging Byrd due to the anger it aroused in the senior Senator from New York but I decided against it as I wanted to wait to hear more information and I didn’t want to break any of Senator Byrd’s Rules. Or something.
I don’t buy his apology; if it’s sincere, I don’t accept it as he has a lot of work to do to make himself respectable (and no, writing a check isn’t enough); that said, I doubt he meant it, so it makes little difference to my opinion of the man. I will be disgusted if he only gets, say, a few months in prison or less than two years, even, but that’s not what I want to comment on as he hasn’t been sentenced yet. I want to comment on the idea that Michael Vick is a victim of racism or prejudice. He isn’t a victim of anything. He is a man with a lot of money with lousy morals who made terrible decisions and will now suffer the consequences, no matter how much he tried to cover it up. He’s a bad man, and he was never that great a Quarterback to begin with. He should be banned for life from the NFL, and if he ever goes back, especially if it’s before Rickey Williams is reinstated. Williams’ suspensions are particularly ridiculous because all he does is smoke marijuana while other guys, Shawn Merriman specifically, get busted taking steroids and get, what? A three game suspension? What a terrible justice system the NFL has, but it’s the same NFL that has turned its back on its old, ailing players, so there you go.
All I know is, Michael Vick is a moral midget, as is the organization he plays in. I sincerely hope he spends significant time in prison and never is even allowed the opportunity to return to the NFL as what he did takes a lifetime of good deeds to overcome, in my opinion. Much like murder. Atonement is all well and good, but I am not God, and so I do not know what’s genuine or not. All I know is what I see: evil actions that can’t be mended with a simple proclamation, that can’t be ignored because some would claim it’s racist to arrest him for his actions, that can’t be forgotten just because he’s got some cash. I do think that he’s a perfect fit for the moral-less NFL, but I’d like to see them move forward in the coming weeks, months and years without the Atlanta Quarterback who was a victim of nothing but his own lack of vision, faith and integrity. Anyone who tells you otherwise is on someone’s payroll.